Fqot-guard for railroads



(No Model.) I

J. B. ATWOOD.

FOOT GUARD FOR RAILROADS.

No. 353,771. Patented Dec. '7, 1886.

//A n-mi NITE STATES :ATENT Fries.

JAMES B. ATvVOOD, OF BOSTON, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO S. W. SEXTON OF SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS.

FOOT GUARD FOR RAILROADS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent. No. 353,771, dated December 7, 1886.

Application filed September 22, 1886. Serial No. 214,275.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES B. ATWOOD, of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Foot- Guards for Railroads, of which the following, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification.

My invention relates to foot-guards for railroads, to be used in frogs, switches, and other IO similar places where railway-tracks come into conj unction'with or intersect each other, and the object of my invention is to provide asafe and durable surface at the angle of intersection or conjunction, so that the foot may not I5 be caught in the projections or sides of the rails.

My invention is illustrated by the accompanying drawings, in which Figure l is a view in oblique perspective of my entire foot-guard.

Fig. 2 is the plan of a frog with the foot-guard in place. Fig. 3 is a vertical transverse sec tion showing those parts of the foot-guard and frog which are above the line a: x, drawn across Fig. 2.

Similar letters refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

B is the form of my foot-guard, which I make of zinc, tin, galvanized iron, sheet-iron, or corrugated iron, (preferably of galvanized iron,) the one being an equivalent of the other, its top being somewhat concave, to avoid ice and water, and to allow for flange of wheel when traveling upon the tread of the rails, and its sides A A, in Fig. 3, convex, which convexity varies according to the neck and head of the rail in which it is intended to place the foot-guard. The said form also becomes narrower at the upper end, E, the distance between the sides A A varying at the upper end, E, according to the distance between the sides of the angle which the rails make with each other at the point where the foot-guard is to be placed, as in Fig. 2. The form is open underneath, making sides A A easily adjustable (No model.)

and firm in place, and allowing the edge D of the convex side to hold firmly against the base of the rail.

The head F, I make of similar material to the form, its shape being adapted at the upper edge to the upper part of the sides A A and top of form, and said head extending about half-way down said-sides. I attach said head to said form by making an edge or lip at right angles with its face, and fastening the edge to the form by means of a rivet, G. By placing the head on the form I prevent the said form from spreading, contracting, or falling in center.

My foot-guard I place in a frog, as shown in plan, Fig. 2, by placing the sides A A along the neck of the rails, as shown in Fig. 3, the upper part being at lower part of the head of the rails O O, with upper end, E, toward the frog-point, as shown in Fig. 2, then push it into any desired position.

Having described my invention and the mode of carrying it into effect, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a railroad foot-guard, the form B, with convex sides A A and concave top, substantially as herein shown and described.

2. In a railroad foot-guard, the form B, with convex sides A A and concave top, in combination with the head F, substantially as herein shown and described.

3. A railroad foot-guard composed ofa form, B, with convex sides A A and concave top, and open end E, and head F, substantially as described, and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses, on this 16th day of September, A. D. 1886.

J AMES B. ATIVOOD.

\Vitnesscs:

E. B. BARTHOLOMEW, H. A. BARTHOLOMEW. 

